How would you describe your experience of receiving your first Holy Communion? One of the most popular and joyful events in our parishes is the celebration of First Holy Communion (Eucharist) for our children. Our parishes welcome many visitors to Mass to join in this celebration. And this year, children who have celebrated their First Holy Communion will have the blessing to receive Holy Communion along with the rest of their parish communities on Corpus Christi Sunday, June 7. 

In 1264, Pope Urban IV established the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, or Corpus Christi, as a distinct feast in honour of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and for increased devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The feast was traditionally observed on the Thursday after Holy Trinity Sunday. However, in some countries, including Canada, the episcopal conferences have moved this feast to the Sunday after Holy Trinity Sunday. The bishops believed that more people would be able to participate in the celebration of Corpus Christi on a Sunday. 

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According to Sacred Scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper with His disciples. Here, Jesus offered bread as His Body and wine as His Blood “poured out for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). Since the institution of the Eucharist, through the ministry of priests and “by the power and working of the Holy Spirit,” the Church has continued to celebrate the Eucharist as commanded by Jesus in memory of Him (Luke 22:19). 

The Sacred Scriptures and the Church emphasize the spiritual significance of Holy Communion in the lives of the baptized. According to St. Paul, “because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). The Eucharist unites us with Christ “who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” When we come to celebrate the Eucharist, we remember His death and Resurrection and we celebrate with reverence, devotion and gratitude. 

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Having served as a parish priest and also as a hospital priest, I have come to learn that the sick and the suffering in a hospital see the Eucharist from a different perspective than the faithful who are in the parishes. Even though the sick may not be able to join us at Mass in the hospital chapel, they yearn for Holy Communion. The sick describe the Eucharist as an encounter with the “compassionate God” and as a source of hope, peace and healing at a time of uncertainty, pain and suffering. 

I remember my encounter with John, a patient who had been admitted for major surgery. During my visit John requested to receive Holy Communion. He described the Eucharist as “Jesus nourishing my strength to prepare me for the surgery.” On another occasion, I visited Monica who was receiving treatment for a life-threatening disease. Monica requested that I bring her Holy Communion every day. She informed me that she used to attend the daily Mass to receive Holy Communion in her parish until she got sick. During one visit Monica shared with me that receiving Holy Communion in the hospital made her feel that “Jesus and the whole parish community is with me.” She described the daily Eucharist as “comforting.”

Patients who are dying are eager to receive the Eucharist. In some situations, they can only receive a tiny bit of the Eucharist. One day I went to give Holy Communion to Samuel at the Palliative Care Unit. Because of his condition on that day, the attending nurse reminded me that Samuel was not able to swallow well enough to receive the whole Host. And so I decided to give a tiny piece of the Host to Samuel. Samuel with a shaky voice thanked me and said, “I am happy to receive the Lord.” The Eucharist is considered the last sacrament of Christian life. Given prior to death, the Eucharist (Viaticum) serves as the “food for the passage through death to eternal life.”

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On the celebration of Corpus Christi Sunday, the Church invites us in a special way to reflect on the deeper meaning of the Eucharist on our journey of life. This year on Divine Mercy Sunday April 12, in his address to the faithful, Pope Leo XIV described Sunday Eucharist as “indispensable to the Christian life” and encouraged the faithful to attend Sunday Mass. He also talked about the missionary dimension of the Eucharist — that “Christians are called to bring what they receive into their lives, becoming witnesses of charity and messengers of reconciliation.” 

The Eucharist is a gift of God’s love for us: it is a source of our spiritual sustenance on our journey of faith. In the Eucharist, Jesus sends us to bring God’s abundant love to others.